Vacation
by Cromne
Summary: [Future Fic] It's been three years after after Naruto and the gang defeated Orochimaru and Akatsuki. Sasuke is back and now Tsunade wants the Rookie 9, Gai's team, and the Sand Siblings to take a vacation. All in one big luxury hotel!
1. Vacation: Prologue

This fic is dedicated to my RP buddies in Sannin (The name of our naruto RP forum in case you're wondering)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and all the usual stuff.

**Day One: Prologue  
**

Sasuke readjusted the strap for his backpack as he continued hiking along the mountain trail. He wondered if this was a punishment from the godaime after he defected from Konoha, or was this a funny excuse of a joke from Naruto to the godaime. Either way, he still suspected something was up from the godaime's sleeves.

He wondered how he got here in the first place as he tried to recollect what just happened a day ago.

_**Flashback**_

Sasuke was lounging on top of a building, contemplating his past just now when somebody called out to him.

"Oy, Sasuke! The godaime wants to see you!" Hollered a passing Kiba.

"What for?" Sasuke answered back.

"Dunno, but he wants everybody to be there."

Sasuke was left with things disturbing his mind. He gulped down dry thinking whether the old hag has finally given her verdict about defecting in the first place. If so, he was ready to face the consequences. If so, why now?

He collected his resolve and started walking towards the Hokage's Tower. While traveling there, he was trying to figure out what Tsunade would want with him. What's more, why the need for _everybody _to be there? It was too puzzling for Sasuke to think up of a logical conclusion as of the moment, so he shrugged it off for the moment.

At the Hokage's office, he knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

"Enter!"

Sasuke unceremoniously entered the door and found that most of the rookie nine, including Gai's team was already there. The one not here, being Naruto.

"Get in line, we'll start as soon as that brat shows up." Tsunade impatiently ordered.

He did so, exchanging nods with Neji and Shikamaru, and took his place beside Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura started. "Have you seen Naruto?"

"Nope, not that I care anyway." He lazily eyed the other direction and then glanced at Sakura. "You know why we're all here?"

Sakura merely shook her head, just before the door busted open with a blonde greeting everyone loudly, too loudly in fact.

"Ohaiyo, minna! Yo, Tsunade baa-chan, you better have a good mission for us to interrupt my ramen meal-tebayo." He protested.

"Ramen meal?" Tsunade's eyes twitched, while a nerve bulged from her forehead when she heard the 'baa-chan' part. Keeping her cool by still holding her two hands together in front of her; obviously trying to keep herself from lunging at Naruto and give him a three year juvenile delinquency lecture back in the academy, "It's already one o'clock, and you were still having ramen?" She continued.

"Well yeah! Ichiraku was having an eat all you can fest-tebayo. See? Here's thee flyer." Naruto toothily grinned, showing Tsunade the promotional add.

"Uwooo! Naruto-kun, why didn't you tell me that?" Choji started.

"Gomen, the ramen must've made you slip from my mind-tebayo." Naruto sheepishly laughed. "Don't worry, it's still on until Friday."

"Then you two will just have to cancel that plan, 'cuz you'll all be going to a week long trip away from here." Tsunade interrupted.

Naruto and Choji each gave their own moans of protest and gave looks of pure dismay at Tsunade.

Well, Sasuke was at least a bit alleviated that it wasn't about his case, three years ago.

"So, what's this trip about Tsunade-sama?" Sakura started, trying to turn away Tsuande's frustration from Naruto.

Tsunade coughed and took out a pile of papers. "You'll all be staying for a week long stay in a recreational hotel lodging near the country of Grass. We've apparently merited this much thanks after the revolution in the Sound village. They'd like to thank all of you from your hard work from freeing them from Orochimaru's binds, and thus the one week vacation."

She gave the pile of papers to Shizune, who in turn distributed it among the young shinobis in the room.

"Godaime-sama," Shikamaru started. "It says here, there are a total of sixteen people who will be attending the hotel. So who are the other four?"

The others who were dumbstruck about that certain detail and quickly scanned the paper for that detail then nodded in unison.

"I never knew Shikamaru could read this fast." Ino whispered.

"I told you that you'll never know Shikamaru wholly Ino." Choji happily replied.

"Yes, the other four will be Sai and the Sand siblings. You'll all rendezvous at the lodging tomorrow. So that wraps things up, meet in front of the Konoha gate by five hundred hours tomorrow." Tsunade answered. Yes, she finally got rid of the pain in her hind for at least one week. So that'll be a week that he won't be pestered by these brats, especially Naruto.

_**End of Flashback **_

"We're finally here." Neji said after climbing the what? Thirty fourth thousand step? Sasuke already lost count.


	2. Day One: Part One

A/N: Thanks for the good reviews, here's chapter 2! BTW, there will be pairings, but it's up to you to find out (insert evil laugh here)

Disclaimer: Same 'I don't things'

**Day One: Part One**

"We're finally here." Neji said.

Puffing and wheezing, Naruto, Choji, and Kiba slumped down at the last step all tired.

"I don't want to see another flight of stairs-tebayo" Naruto complained, rather weakly though.

"Don't say that, Naruto-kun, It is a sign of good health and the might of youth!" Lee countered, giving him the nice guy pose with matching teeth sparkle.

Tenten and Neji both turned blue of slight disgust trying hard not to remember Gai's image of dancing in their mind. Then again, since Lee was here so that was pointless.

"You must feel the freshness of the power of youth, look forward and challenge it, that's what Gai-sensei told me." He continued shaking a fist while standing on a rock near a cliff. The early morning sun was behind him as dramatic winds started to blow past by.

"Hai, hai, whatever all mighty youth one." Tenten pinched Lee by his ear and dragged him away.

Sasuke gave a sigh of relief when Lee was being dragged and still telling stories about how the power of youth thing goes. He looked back at his team and nudged his head towards the luxury hotel in front of them.

Sakura nodded, and the rest followed.

"Ahh, welcome everyone. You must be the Konoha guests we were expecting. Please, come in. Our reception counter already has everything prepared for you." Welcomed an old lady, possibly the land lady.

Everyone marched in just before Neji looked up to see a grinning Sai up in one balcony.

"What took you?" He waved his cheerful hand up in the air.

"Sai!" Squeeled a rather fangirlish mode Ino.

"There, she goes again, seriously." Shikamaru shook his head, shrugging before dragging Ino in as well.

"Uwo! This place is awesome! Tsunade baa-chan, I'll forgive you for canceling my eat all you can ramen special-tebayo." Naruto smiled, clasping his hands together.

Sasuke couldn't agree more. The reception room was luxurious as it was. Complete brass furnishings and the golden lights helped exude a rather Contemporary mood. Even the lounge room was enough to make Sasuke just sleep there. Everybody seemed that way too, judging by their awestruck faces.

"Welcome to the Hirai Shotima Hotel, a five star luxury resort. Please arrange your rooms by the counter." The old lady politely welcomed them again.

The lady by the counter smiled at the lot and presented four panels with cubes in them – the room arrangements.

"Please pick any room you wish, the third and fourth panel can accommodate up to four people and the four royal suites can accommodate eight people."

Everyone was suddenly silent. All of them had their sights on the royal suite, but they can't all have it, can't they? Naruto and Kiba suddenly exchanged death glares, having the same thought in mind, just as Sakura and Ino were exchanging fiery looks.

Shikamaru, noticing the tense atmosphere, picked up a small scroll, and started writing things on it.

"Jeez, you're all a pain, here." He presented the scroll he took out with lines and pasted paper. "We'll just have to make it a lottery. The person whose name is points to the suite gets it."

Shikamaru's plan seemed to work, Naruto wasn't being chased around by a gigantic Akamaru while biting at his orange behind, inner Sakura and inner Ino (A/N: Yes, there's an inner Ino if you checked one of the filler episodes) weren't strangling each other.

"Won't it be unfair if you just pick the line which pointed to a suite?" Neji asked.

"Che, I don't want a troublesome room like a royal suite. It's too big for my taste anyway." Shikamaru lazily answered and gave Neji the scroll to start writing.

One by one, everyone wrote their names on top of a line. When they all finished, Shikamaru took the scroll back and started peeling the glued paper.

First was Neji, his line had an x on it, so did Kiba, Choji, Ino, and Sakura. All of them slumped down in sadness. Hinata won, so did Shino. Hinata suddenly felt her hair shot straight up, feeling killing intent from behind.

"Oy, cut it out, it was a fair lottery." Shikamaru barked back with half gloomy eyes. "Ok, the next one who got the suite was, Lee?" He said, rather dumbfounded.

"Yosh!" Lee shouted in triumph, holding a nice guy pose. "The trick is always just pick the lines that weren't telling you that they were suites, jus stick to the ones you liked; Gai-sensei would be proud!"

"_Does it work like that?"_ Sasuke thought. He glanced around him and made sure that it really wasn't; judging from the other faces that clearly said: 'IDIOT, IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT!'

"Alright, alright, settle down. Naruto and Sasuke are the only ones left." The Nara piped them down.

Naruto tried to gulp down hard, clasping his hands together, like what seems to be praying.

"PleaselemmehavethesuitPleaselemmehavethesuitePleaselemmehavethesuitePleasekemmehavethesuite." He murmured over and over the chant.

"Naruto-" Shikamaru said.

Naruto cut him off, jumping up and down in glee. "Yay! I won-tebayo! Ha! Eat that, teme!" He pointed a finger at Sasuke

"-you didn't win the suite." Shikamaru continued.

Naruto froze up in the air, mouth gaping wide open at Shikamaru. "NO! Tell me it's not true-tebayo!" Naruto kneeled down and hugged Shikamaru's legs. "You were lying ne, ne? I wond that suite thing, right?"

"Oi! Cut it out, Naruto." Shikamaru struggled with Naruto, trying to peel away his face from dripping tears on his pants.

Sasuke, on the other hand, folded his hands and shook his head. Why on earth did he have an airhead of a teammate in the first place, was he always this cursed for having a boke tag along his life?

The old lady came back with bell boys who took their luggage and marched off once everybody had picked rooms. Sasuke walked straight towards his suite and did the first thing he always wanted after the long hike. Take a nap. He went straight towards the double queen size bed and slumped down. Only after a couple of seconds, he got back up and looked around. He didn't feel sleepy anymore, now he felt bored and hungry. _"Stupid hiking trip."_ He thought.

He got up and walked down towards the lounging area to see what everyone was up to.


	3. Day One: Part Two

**Day One: Part Two**

Sasuke walked down the main stairs all the way down towards the hall. There, He found Naruto, Kiba, Choji, as well as Akamaru, although Akamaru was on Kiba's side, fighting over cookies on the platter.

"OI! These are mine-tebayo! I saw them first." Naruto declared, pointing a shaky finger at the two, make that three.

"Naruto-kun, you may be my friend, but the luxury of getting first bite from this tasty platter comes first before comradery." Choji replied with another of his profound eating philosophies.

"You're wrong there; I was the one who ordered them. Therefore, I should get the first bite." Kiba pointed his thumb at him together with Akamaru barking in agreement.

Sasuke walked past by and swiped his hand across the platter and took a bite; all that in one fast flurry.

"Oi, TEME! You ruined the meal-tebayo!" Naruto 'put-up' with Sasuke, standing in front of him.

"You should know Sasuke-kun, the grudge over food is beyond all forgiveness." Choji punched his palm sending a few waves of chakra from it. Kiba and Akamaru seemed to have the same idea as well, blocking Sasuke from the side.

"What? It was just a cookie." Sasuke retorted at them - annoyed, still with a cookie sticking out of his mouth.

"No wonder it was lively and noisy so early in the morning, I couldn't get any sleep now; because it was you guys." A familiar voice resounded from the main stairs.

Sasuke and the rest turned their heads to see Kankuro leaning by the stair railings with Temari and Gaara close behind.

"Uwo! Gaara!" Naruto shouted and ran up to Gaara to greet him. "It's been a long time, eh? How's the academy going?"

"Yeah, it's been long." Gaara replied with that same cold tone of his, still not blinking. "My student is handling the class; I know she'll be alright."

"He, you really have changed, Gaara."

Gaara didn't answer back but merely blinked. Temari seemed to have noticed the odd tension. Well, the Kazekage still wasn't used to having vacations; in fact this was their third vacation together in their whole life. Temari grabbed Kankuro by the collar and nudged him towards the doorway leading to the veranda outside.

Kankuro sweat dropped and said, "Uhh guys, we better go check out the botanical garden outside. Tema- err," Kankuro paused when he felt a finger pointing behind him. "I wanted to see some of the flowers." Kankuro sweatdropped, making up an excuse before Temari went ballistic on him.

"Ow, is that so-tebayo?" Naruto answered.

The three sand siblings left the three amidst crunching and chewing noises. Kiba suddenly shouted in astonishment just as Naruto looked back to see what went wrong; and something was indeed wrong.

"Choji, don't hog the rest of the cookies and pastries down by yourself!" Kiba dived towards the Akimichi and wrestled for what few morsels were left. Naruto followed suit, then Akamaru, biting Naruto from behind once again.

Sasuke merely shook his head from annoyance. Was he forever cursed? He wondered what was worse, having Orochimaru do nasty things with his body under his control, or stuck with these clowns for life? Either way was a no, but he seemed to have regretted it. He looked back at the direction the three Suna shinobi went to and wondered. _"Kankuro likes flowers? When did he like flowers?"_ Wanting to find out, he went outside as well.

After Naruto and their war of the cookie scene, the highly contrasting scene that lay before him made the Uchiha wonder how their batch ever got together so easily in the first place. In one hand, we have the vulgar bunch like Naruto. On the other, we have people like Neji and Hinata who were still capable of mingling peacefully with dopes like Kiba and Lee. Hinata, Tenten, Neji, as well as Shino were having an intelligent tea party by a shaded western tea table.

Sasuke walked by them, slowly, trying not to get their attention and at the same time, eavesdropping..

"Sasuke, mind if you join in?" Shino greeted. "It would do well for members of a party to share their pleasant times with each other."

Sasuke stopped and looked back, blinked and sighed. He took a seat while Hinata started to pour a fresh batch to an empty cup.

"Dozo." Hinata handed Sasuke his cup.

"Domo."

"So, what are Naruto and the rest been up to?" Neji started.

"You have your Byakugan, why don't you use it and find out for yourself?" Sasuke lazily answered back, eyeing the sliding door to which the battle of the cookie should proceed to the pastry wars later; then maybe, just maybe, the revenge of Akamaru.

Neji merely laughed a little, taking another sip from his cup. "At least you're relaxing."

"_Relaxing? Now how'd he come up with that?"_ Sasuke merely closed his eyes while taking a small sip. He stared down at his cup after realizing that it tasted better than his own brew he was always proud of.

"Eh? Looks like you enjoyed their brew, Sasuke?" Tenten gave a smirk waving her cup around.

"Indeed, it has a relaxing feel to my bugs." Shino added.

Well Sasuke didn't care less for the bugs, in fact he didn't like bugs all too well. If Shino's pets ever wandered anywhere near him, he'd get a spray can and a lighter.

Shino asked a question. "Ever wondered, whether why Sasuke ever did come back?"

Sasuke could feel the tense commotion rising up in the air. What did he care about the reasons he came back. It was none of his business.

"Hmm, good one, Shino. Sasuke never did give a proper reason." Neji added.

"I have a god guess, it's prolly someone special, right? Like _Naruto_?" Tenten teased Sasuke waving a doujinshi high up in the air.

Sasuke was sipping his tea when he choked on it and sprayed Hinata with the lemon honey tea. "Where did you get that!?" Sasuke pointed an accusing finger at the questionable material.

"Why? It's just a doujin. I bought it from Sai. Mind you, he's a great fic artist."

"Give me that!"

"No way, I bought it!"

"Where's Sai then?"

"What is it Sasuke-kun?" A voice trailed behind Sasuke.

Sasuke immediately turned around and gripped Sai's shirt. "What did you just draw in there?"

"Uhh, Shounen-ai?" Sai teased Sasuke, giving him one of his frank come backs and that innocent smile.

Sasuke on the other hand was fuming already. He gritted his teeth and gripped his shirt harder. "Why I outta…!"


	4. Day One: Part Three

A/N: Sorry, for the late update; exams killed me XD

**Day One: Part Three**

Sasuke was gripping his Sai's shirt. "Why I outta..!"

"What's the matter, Sasuke-kun? Is there something you didn't like about my work?" The ANBU said.

"Yeah, me in a shounen-ai doujin!" The ex-avenger answered back.

"Don't worry, I made sure Naruto was the uke." Sai pointed out with a smile and a matter-of-factly finger.

"You don't get it. I am NOT into those things. What happens when the whole village read that thing? They'll think I'm some loose homo!"

"But Sasuke, almost everyone in the village already HAS read Sai's work." Tenten added.

The whole revelation made Sasuke's hands weak. His grip loosened and sat back to his chair. His face all dazed, his eyes glazed from what just happened. _"So everyone thinks I'm homo now, what would chichue think?"_ He shook his head and got back to his senses. "NO! Don't make any other doujin of me with any other uke, got that?"

"Alright, Sasuke, if you wish. Then you won't mind if I use Sakura-san, right?" Sai happily told him, holding out a prototype cover of Sakura in a bathing towel, lying down on a bed.

Sasuke's brow twitched yet again and took the damned cover and tore it to shreds. Afterwards he stormed off near the said botanical garden to go see what he came for in the first place.

"What a waste…" Tenten grumbled, picking up some of the shreds.

"Don't worry, that was just a printed copy. I still have the original." Sai, once again, happily pointed it out.

Sasuke, still fuming, took a seat at one of the benches at a secluded part of the veranda. Sasuke did a face palm and noticed that he was still clutching a few pieces of paper that he tore a while ago. He wiped his hands together and made sure not a single piece of it was still sticking to his hand. He brushed some of the pieces paper that were littered on his lap when he noticed Sakura's face. His mind was blank for a moment, just staring at her face.

"Something wrong Sasuke-kun?" a voice said just when a shadow came over him.

He looked up and saw the real thing he was just staring just now – Sakura. She smiled and sat beside him. Sasuke felt uneasy and merely looked at the other direction. Sakura found it amusing and chuckled.

"What's so funny?" He grunted, not looking back.

"Nothing, it's just that." She paused and continued to stifle her laugh. "I never knew you could get mad when Sai said he was going to publish a doujinshi of me."

Sasuke merely snorted at this with his eyes twitching.

"Seriously, you really didn't have to be so uptight about it, people aren't thinking _bad_ about you. They knew what the contents were; it's just a silly joke anway." She shifted from her seat to get a clearer view of Sasuke's profile. "You really have to apologize to Hinata later on, Neji was quite upset about the person he's supposed to guard get sprayed with tea." Sakura giggled on.

Sasuke didn't answer. His mind was still about his rash actions just now. He knew why he got ticked off, and he resented it and refused to accept it. He liked Sakura much more than a friend would. Something he knew would inevitably surface anytime by now. He still felt detached, undeserving from all the sacrifices they've made trying to bring him back with them.

"Sasuke-kun? It's already lunch time, come on." She invited him. But Sasuke didn't move an inch, his face as distant as ever. "Is something wrong, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke still didn't answer, he was too lost in himself that registering Sakura's face only a few millimeters away from him took a while. When it did, Sasuke's eyes focused to the pink haired blossom in front of him, he yelped and fell off the bench.

"What are you doing?" He spat, annoyed and all red.

"Teehee, C'mon, it's already lunch time." She handed him her hand.

He ignored it, getting himself up without her help. Sakura looked taken back but gave him an apologetic smile.

"I guess you'll never change."

Sasuke didn't answer as they made their way back to the hotel. Inside, the main dining table was already packed with everybody except the two of them.

"Oi, Teme, what took you so long?" Naruto blurted out from one corner of the grand dining table.

Sasuke continued to ignore the blonde dope and took a seat with Sakura sitting beside him. He resided to lean on his seat while the others continued to ramble and bicker amongst themselves.

"Sasuke-kun, appetizer?" Sasuke looked up to see Sakura handing him a basket of garlic bread.

The raven haired simply grabbed a slice and nibbled the piece of bread, looking away from her. Sakura merely giggled and passed the basket to a blushing Hinata.

"Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked.

"Eh? O-ow. Arigatou." She humbly accepted the basket, trying her best not to stare at Naruto who was seated in front of her – despite the part where Naruto was getting blue with his tounge sticking out from the choke hold Kankuro did to him from attempting to wipe off his facial paint.

"I checked your medical records, and I'm relieved all of you have no allergic reactions to any kinds of food. So I took the liberty to present a grand course to you all." The elderly woman announced, and with a single clap trolleys pushed by chefs in white were lining up around the dinner table.

Mouth watering delicacies both foreign and local wafted their fresh aroma across the room as everyone's stomachs responded hungrily, much more to Naruto and Choji who were practically drooling over the rich looking cuisines. Sasuke got a bowl of miso soup and some steamed calamari for his first course while Choji dominated the stacking contest. The Uchiha felt slightly unnerved from seeing the six inch high dinner plate with assorted morsels. Of course Kiba secretly dominated everything with the help of a certain jumbo quad pedaled friend eating all of his veggies.

"Itadakimasu!" Everyone chorused and digged in.

Sasuke glanced around to sea everyone's eating habits. Kiba and Naruto were having an eating contest, with Naruto losing horribly, Choji was explaining the love for food to a completely ignoring Ino, Hinata, Neji as well as the sand trio were eating as pompously as he did; although Shino was eating with some of his bugs taking a few morsels here and there and delivering it inside his sleeve. Lee on the other hand was whispering to a chef and covertly slipped a piece of paper into his hand. The chef's facial expression cringed after looking at the paper and simply nodded at Lee.

"You aren't giving him the recipe to the curry of life, aren't you?" Tenten inquisitively asked.

"Err, of course not." Lee cowered to his seat while Neji and Tenten glowered at him.

"_Curry of life? What was that supposed to be?_" Sasuke peered sideways through his soup bowl.

Sure enough, a stinging aroma crept out across the room as it started to get the attention of some if not most of the people there.

"What in the world is that smell!?" Kankuro complained, pinching his nose from the sharp spicy smell when the bubbling hot pot was being served in front of Lee.

Sure enough, when the chef opened the lid, a black mass of bubbling whatever was simmering its spicy flavor. Naruto, Neji, and Tenten scrunched their faces at the sight of an old horror. The rest were oblivious to what it could do but the color itself as well as Naruto's expression was enough to signal them that it could kill them. The chef proceeded to place a small serving for each of them, with Tenten and Neji overreacting their refusal.

Sasuke was slightly hesitant to poke a spoon in and get it over with. He glanced around to see Naruto doing the neck-slash sign with the words eat-that-and-you-die-teme etched all over his face.

Aside from Naruto, Neji, and Tenten, everyone else was overly hesitant to take their first bite while a green beast someone was already wolfing down his third bowl of curry. They all gulped and took one single spoonful of curry and immediately turned red.

Sasuke tried to act stoic and stayed calm, his fist was clenching his spoon so tightly that it began to bend trying to hold in the mega hot sensation in his mouth. Poor Hinata was already inside the bathroom with Ino and Temari knocking furiously outside to let them in and wash the curry off from their faces. Kiba, Akamaru, and Shikamaru were already choking; while Choji on the other hand already fainted, his mouth beginning to froth.

Sasuke gulped down a whole glass of water before looking beside him to see Sakura also just finishing a whole glass of water.

"Well, wasn't that something." She said through watery eyes.

"Ishngg ich Shamuwa-jyan?" Lee replied through a mouthful.

Tenten immediately struck a bo stick across Lee's bowl cut hair-do and shouted, "LEE! I TOLD YOU NOT TO REQUEST THAT CURRY!"

"But Tenten, that curry is all we needed to jump start our time here. In fact, it should be a staple one throughout our stay here-"

Lee got another strike on the head before he could finish with Tenten shouting loudly at Lee, Sasuke began to wonder what were his ears made of.

"LEE! NO. MORE. CURRY. FINAL!"

And thus ended their first afternoon lunch in the hotel.


	5. Day Two: Part One

**Day Two: Part One**

Sasuke was on some large sofa. It felt so soft he could die there of relaxation. He re adjusted himself feeling more at ease while he watched a beautiful sunset go by the orange horizon. He took a bite off some dango and tried to feel his way to his cold tea, until…

_puin_

Sasuke's eyes shot wide open when he touched something… supple, smooth and _very_ soft. His hand began to shake as he withdrew his hand and gulped trying not to imagine what was beside him. He was more so reluctant to look at the being that was beside him.

"Uhm…" Someone moaned. He realized it was a she, further fueling Sasuke's dread.

_A. Girl. Is. Beside. Me!!!_ He thought. But, he began to think why was a girl beside him in the first place, and… who? He mustered what little spirit he had left to get this over with; but before he could do so. The girl turned from her position and snuggled at Sasuke and even calling out his name in her sleep. The color of spring blossoms welcomed his vision as the girl placed her head on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura murmured.

"No… Way… This has to be a dream" He began, his mouth wide open from the shock. He tightened his arms, ready to push her away but her grip on him tightened each and every time.

"Sasuke-kun ehehe…" She giggled.

"O-oi You're not asleep, are you?" He told her off with what's left of his cool as sweat began to trail down his temple.

Before he could follow his previews statement, Sakura merely giggled and tilted her head up. The space between their faces, their lips barely touching no matter how much Sasuke tried to back away from her, despite being on a large sofa.

Sasuke was at last cornered at the other end of the Arm rest of the sofa. She continued to advance on him she opened her eyes to reveal green eyes locking with Sasuke's. At that instant he couldn't move, he was blankly staring back at those green eyes as she moved forward, still. He began to breath hard, one inch away, 40 millimeters, 30, 20, 10 – with a burst of strength Sasuke pushed himself away and falling from the sofa.

"WAH!" He finally screamed out falling down from his bed. "It… was a dream, only a dream." He tried to reassure himself while gasping and panting for air from what just happened. He straightened up after a few minutes when he deemed himself thoroughly ventilated and fixed his sheets. He went towards the bathroom immediately and splashed his face with water and for the first time in days he felt refreshed.

There were a few knocks on the door and a voice was calling him already. "Uchiha-sama, Breakfast is ready." A Bell boy called out.

Sasuke didn't answer but the bell boy left his door nonetheless, much to Sasuke's appreciation. He changed into some fresh clothes and went down for some brunch and after realizing the time when he passed the great wall clock that hanged on the great hall it dawned him how late he woke up. When he reached the main dining table, he only saw two plates left. Shrugging, he figured he must be one of the last ones to eat lunch now. Good thing though, there were ample dishes left for him to eat despite knowing how monstrous the appetite of his batch were. So, he sat down and began eating, a few morsels of Beef with teriyaki sauce, a few dashes of pepper… Sasuke's 'brunch' was relatively simple, quiet. But this feeling of tranquility made him stiffen when he remembered his dream, 'nightmare' rather, a few moments ago.

The Uchiha started to feed his protesting stomach and found that the food was remotely warm, which he enjoyed greatly. He wasn't very much of a good chef himself but he was quite apt enough to acknowledge good cooking. After checking on his second mouthful of Okonomiyaki, he glanced at the last unused plate beside him and began to wonder who else hasn't eaten yet. He knew right away afterwards when he looked at the person walking down towards the grand hall. Ino.

Ino's hair was the victim of a bad hair day that time as she sleepy yawned and ambled her way towards the grand dining table. She seemed not to notice him since she didn't go all 'fan-girlish mode' and made a plushie out of him that instant. Instead, she rubbed her eyes and sat down, getting some rice and a little bit of oolong tea from the teapot.

"Can you pass me the soy sauce?" She dreamily asked him.

Still chewing on his beef teriyaki, he complied but he didn't respond and passed her the soy sauce.

"Ow Thank you Sasuke-" She paused after Ino and Sasuke were holding the soy sauce together.

"What-?" Sasuke finally spoke after he swallowed his last mouthful.

Ino began to turn red and ran back upstairs. "OH NO! DON'T LOOK AT ME! I LOOK LIKE SOME URANGUTAN!"

Sasuke shook his head when she left, hen will never – EVER understand women. He began to think retroactively with all his past encounters with women, they were simply a hindrance, an annoyance, a distraction, a headache, and most of al- . He paused in mid sentence while his body stopped as well, stopping in mid feed; his chopsticks spilling some rice every now and then while he was out of it. Sasuke couldn't bring himself to acknowledge it, never that word and other words synonymous to it. He stayed in that position until loud thumping sounds from the stairs woke him up from his phased state and quickly cleaned up the rice that he was about to eat.

Ino came back, now thoroughly groomed. She was fidgety as she came back to her seat and made no move on her meal whatsoever. Sasuke didn't mind and even enjoyed her solace silence as he finished his. When he did, he fixed his plate and sat up but he was abruptly halted when Ino grabbed his hand.

"Wha-?"

"Promise me you won't tell anyone about what just happened." She pleaded blushing profusely.

Sasuke merely blinked at her, _"Were girls **this** complicated?"_

"Tell what happened?" He coldly replied, yanking his hand free.

Sasuke went back upstairs to brush his teeth but he can faintly hear the Yamanaka make a long sigh of relief. Back upstairs he quickly flattened himself to the wall when a dashing Kiba mounted on Akamaru went by him. Kankuro followed suit, fuming mad.

"Oi Sasuke," Sasuke inwardly snapped a vein from the addressing him in such a way. "Where'd Kiba go?"

"Down towards the front yard, why?"

"That runt just stole Kuroari's head!" He burst out, pushing Sasuke to the side and rushing towards the front lawn where you can clearly hear Kankuro yelling profanities at Kiba.

And Sasuke wandered on back to her room. He fount it slightly amusing – Kuroari's stolen head - to the extent of imagining a game, probably volleyball, using Kuroari's head as the ball. He chuckled at the thought and made a bee-line back to his room. After finishing the rest of his early morning ablutions, Sasuke headed back into main yard where a whole lot of them were relaxing, playing, or in Sai's case, drawing. Sau;s handiwork made Sasuke leer at him for a few moments before heading towards another tea party with Neji, Hinata, Tenten, and Shino. He took a seat and Hinata offered him another cup, although her hand was trembling when he received it. Neji, however, made Hinata adjust her seat in a way that she wasn't sitting right in front of Sasuke. Sasuke didn't pay this much attention and faced Hinata nonetheless – much to Tenten's amusement. Hinata responded by shrinking back to her seat looking sideways at her older cousin for some help.

"I didn't mean to get you wet yesterday." He blankly said, which she replied by nodding. Hinata seemed to accept the Uchiha's apology, despite him nnot saying it.

"Hey, I got an idea." Shino told all of them when they started getting comfortable with the mood and started chatting, except Sasuke. "Why don't we check out the pool later?"

Hinata became rather incredulous, so did Tenten and Neji.

"U-umm, I thought water doesn't go well with your bugs?" Hinata asked, with a tinge of shyness now that everyone was looking at her.

"I sent a scouts all around the resort to check out each and every location." He paused raising his left hand to welcome another bug that just came back from his scouting rounds. "The report he says was rather surprising, the mineral composites of the pool satisfies a great deal to my swarm."

"Ow, so basically you just want to drag us all to the pool with you because you want a bug-bath?" Tenten inquisitively asked, raising a brow.

"Well, think of it as a good chance for another bonding moment I think we all knew what happened to lunch yesterday."

Tenten shrugged back and got up, "Come on, Neji let's go get some things for the pool!"

"Hinata-sama, you want to go?"

"Sure! Let's go to the pool." She quickly replied seeing another chance to get together again.

"Hehh… the pool huh?" A blonde idiot just crept up behind Hinata, making her red the instant she heard his voice with steam pushing her long black locks aside. Ignoring this fact Naruto went on. "OI! Minna! We're going to the POOL!" He shouted with everyone looking at him jump up and down behind an over heated Hinata like some nut case just who escaped the loony bin just recently.

Sasuke could only lean on one arm rest of his chair and sip the last of his tea wishing to knock his brains out if it weren't for Neji already muttering under his breath, 'idiot'.


	6. Day Two: Part Two

**Day**** Two: Part Two**

"BANZAI!" Naruto bellowed before he went free falling towards the pool. With a big splash that hit most of the other people who haven't dipped themselves into the shimmering cool water yet – much to their blatant protests.

"You IDIOT! Have you ever heard of getting a shower BEFORE you get into the pool!?" Sakura was scolding Naruto at the top of her lungs. Sasuke made a smirk as he flashed some reminiscing scenes together with Team 7 with a similar event: Naruto blundering with Sakura scolding him.

"Eh? Why _should_ you get a shower first?" Asked with that fox-look on his face and making himself look even more foolish.

Ino face palmed herself and went up beside a fuming Sakura. "Let, _me_ explain this." Ino proceeded to give Sakura a pat signifying a tag in some sport. "You see, Naruto, we're all sort of dirty and sweaty from the day." Naruto nodded making it look like he's listening and understanding, which Sasuke highly doubt. "We take showers to get most of them off THEN go into the pool so we don't dirty and make it even more impure than it already IS." She finished, Naruto folded his arms and began to ponder.

"Wha-? I don't get it." With this all of them except Neji, Sasuke, Gaara, and Shikamaru comically fell down to the floor.

"Mou- forget it Ino-pig, there really is no sense talking to him. C'mon let's get that shower." Sakura patted her friend on the shoulder and proceeded with the rest of the group towards the changing area. Meanwhile, leaving a still confused Naruto shouting at them to continue explaining.

"Ow you don't have to worry about that." The old landlady suddenly spoke.

Sasuke was the one farthest behind and felt the chill run down his spine when she just appeared and spoke. _"She's better than a ninja! I couldn't sense her."_

"Huh? What do you mean Jinushi-san" Temari asked since she was the next nearest to her.

"We have a filter machine attached to the pool, keeping it clean and germ free." She chuckled and limped herself to a small cottage. "You young ones go ahead and have fun, I'll keep watch from over here."

Sakura and Ino shrugged and probably thought it was ok then proceeded to the changing rooms. The others followed except Sasuke and Kiba, they were already dressed underneath and simply took them off and proceede to the shower.

The shower rooms were really big. The whole place was spotless too, not to mention it was even equipped with a soap nozzle for easy bathing. Really five star quality.

"Woaw, nice shower." Awed the Inuzuka.

Sasuke merely nodded and replied with a grunt and went into a stall while Kiba did the rest. After washing himself thoroughly, he went out with Kiba just as the rest came in for their quick shower. They got out just in time they hear awes in a chorus. Kiba gave him a really big grin like as if they were close to which Sasuke just nodded in reply. Naruto on the other hand got up from the pool and ran towards them rather curiously.

"So, so… what's those awes I hear just now?" The blonde asked.

"Nothing, something you don't need to bother since you won't take a shower first." Kiba replied mischievously, poking Naruto too forcefully and tipping him back to the pool.

"OI! What'd you do that for?"

"Nothing?"

Naruto gave his own mischievous face and charged up a little chakra – ok, a lot of it sending a blast of water at Kiba.

"So you want to play, huh? How's this?" Kiba returned the favor jumping high up into the air and plunging in the middle of the pool cannon ball style.

This sent waves of water all around the pool, splashing Naruto, splashing Sasuke, nearly splashing granny – a good thing, she thought about the fight amusing; and merely laughed – and splashed the rest of the group when they just came out.

"Naruto…" Sakura ominously growled with her eyes comically turning into red triangular demon eyes.

Next thing Sasuke knew Naruto was in a prone position, being strangled by Sakura, with his neck arched back by a wire tied to his foot by Tenten, and Temari with her fan used as an axel to apply pressure on the bent backbone.

"U-anou… Weren't we all going to go the pool anyway?" Protested a meek Hinata to his cousin.

"You should know better Hinata-sama, besides, Naruto's been to worse positions than that. You should see what Ino and Sakura did back-" Neji was suddenly cut off when Shikamaru nudged Neji's arm.

"And you should know better than to give your cousin a heart attack." Shikamaru whispered and went off towards the pool and lazily dipped himself in. "Man, I sure wished there was a nearby Jacuzzi around here… how troublesome."

"So what exactly happened back then with Ino and Sakura?" Hinata pleaded again.

"Hehe," Neji sheepishly laughed. "Let's just say Naruto had to get a few screws bolted into his head."

Hinata turned white at the very mention of Naruto's predicament.

"N-no! Not literally of course!"

With a sigh, Sasuke sat at a nearby beach chair. He pondered then what just happened and why he was dragged into this mess. He brushed his black locks up his forehead as he realized multiple events that took place just before. There was Naruto and the rest going up to get their swim gear after just making arrangements with the staff and with themselves about their plan to go to the pool. Sasuke wasn't feeling up to it and stayed behind when Sakura went down to get something she left behind.

The Uchiha stopped here as he blinked at the clear blue sky as he leaned back to his chair. Then he closed his eyes again. Sakura just got her notepad from the table and this was when Sasuke felt queasy. Sakura scolding him straight out was rare, but it showed that she's grown over her old traits. Besides that he remembered distinctly what she scolded him about, things like catching up and tying up some loose ends with the rest of their batch. Sasuke at that time inwardly smiled as he fascinated this one particular girl who went from annoying him into putting some sense into him. Although she's still bugging him, it actually felt nice. He was lost in this memory for a long time now that he didn't notice that he was grinning in his sleep until another water gush from the pool splashed him awake.

"HA! Take that for taking a doze here in the pool with US, teme!"

Sasuke didn't need to know the owner of the voice as the ow so familiar nickname was already a giveaway.

"Shut up, urusantokaichi (Blunderer FYI). Can't you see I'm taking a nap?" He retorted back, although he kept the dream part away.

"Yeah, that and that big grin in your face."

"Baka! I was NOT grinning!"

"Ow yes you were! Little bit more and I bet you'd be drooling in whatever fantasies you have in that black stuck up head of yours." Naruto mischievously grinned making him sound as if he knew everything – and he was actually dead center!

Sasuke was getting slightly red and now flustered. He panned his head to the side to cover that up getting his composure back. When he did, he had an idea how to reply back. He suddenly dashed off and made a quick hop on the water to which he slid himself on the water. From the force of Sasuke's skid, it made a great deluge on Naruto, sending him all the way towards the other end of the pool.

"An that's for all the splashes so far."

"Teme…" Naruto growled but was cut off when Sakura slammed a fan on Naruto's head.

"Baka! Didn't I ever tell you not to aggravate Sasuke?"

"H-hai…"

Sasuke made a triumphant snort and leaned back on a corner and enjoyed the cool water.

"Hey, Sasuke, mind if we move for a bit to the side?" Shikamaru asked after a few moments later.

"How come?" Sasuke answered back, annoyed.

"Well, you see." He paused and looked back.

Sasuke tilted his head to look at what was concerning Lee and found Shino covered with black material, this shimmering black plague of some sort was slowly spreading around the water and encircled him. The whole sight made Sasuke's stomach churn.

"So, do you mind?"

He did so, and didn't even ask Shikamaru whatever it was that Shino was doing and didn't bother with it.

"Eww, Eww, Eww, EWW!" Came a frantic Ino as she bobbed and plashed towards near Sasuke's location.

_"Now__ what does she want?"_

"BUGS!" She finally screamed.

"Bugs?" Choji repeated, "Oh, wait don't tell me-"

Choji and Sasuke paused and looked behind Ino as a small line of bugs were tailing her from her back.

"Y-you do know you've got some of those-" Choji pointed them out but he was cut off immediately.

Ino frantically splashed towards them even faster while waving her hands behind her back. Try as much as she can to get them away, all she ever did manage was spread more of the bugs all over the place. Sasuke too began to climb up from the pool or else getting at least one bug on him.

Sasuke followed the trail of bugs and saw to his horror that it already has spread to almost every corner of the pool.

"KYAN! GROSS!" Sakura squealed just a few feet away. She got out of the water and tip toed her way with the rest of the group that got off the pool from the infesting bugs.

Everything was in chaos now, even the Jinushi stood up and watched in horror as her pristine pool turned into an infest-heavy bug haven. The buoyant insects were all over the pool now. The bugs seemed harmless though, but the over all impact of a scary looking insect crawling over you while supine floating on water is too much of a creepy factor that no one dared to come close towards the edge. All except Sai who was leaning close to the pool and trying to scoop some out and then splashed bug-free water towards the girls.

"S-Sakura?" Choji Stuttered pointing a finger towards her back.


	7. Day Two: Part Three

**Day Two: Part Three**

"S-Sakura?" Choji stuttered pointing a finger towards her back.

"W-what is it…" Sakura turned her head stiffly afraid to look back then her eyes shot open suddenly and paused. Sasuke saw her shiver next and raised a brow at her. Then Sakura felt something twitch from behind her and screamed, jumping towards Sasuke. "KYAN! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"

Sasuke caught her instinctively and from the force of her jump, knocked both of them to the ground.

"O-oi! Sakura! Get a hold of yourself!" He yelled at her while she still kept screaming and flailing about in his arms. The Uchiha proceed to wipe Sakura's back and managed to swat the bugs away with some difficulty. "Hey, they're gone now. Stop struggling you're punching me!"

She stopped automatically after Sasuke reassured her and rested her head on his heaving chest sighing. "Thank you Sasuke…" She sighed before she stiffened once again.

Sasuke, who was a bit out of breath from struggling the mega strength Sakura from struggling just a while ago was also heaving not knowing that all eyes were already towards them. Even Akamaru was jumping from behind the wall of shinobis just to get a glimpse on the very insinuating moment. He felt Sakura stiffened and quickly grabbed hold of her waist not wanting her to bowl him to death then yelled, "What is it Sakura? Is there another bug?"

He couldn't see Sakura's already red face since she was looking away from him and quickly stood up and walked hurriedly away towards the bathroom. Ino followed suit together with Tenten after nodding at Neji. That was when he noticed everyone surrounding him. With his flushed face, he stood up, and without looking at them, wiped his swimming shorts clean.

"Ne, ne, Sasuke. I never knew you had the hots for Sakura, eh?" Naruto said to him while nudging him.

"BAKA! What are you talking about?" He spat back, utterly red now.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. But if you ever hurt her feeling again, I'll make sure to pound your face!" He held his fist upward.

Although Naruto was an idiot, there were times that he showed maturity and virtue. This was certainly one of those days and Sasuke, getting his composure back, gave him a smirk and waved his hand at him lazily as he walked away.

"Aburame-sama, we all due respect that we would accommodate and give big margins in our part to cater for you special needs and wants, but…" The land lady now talking and was over Shino. "Your bugs. You really must control them!"

"H-hai Karinin-san" Shino gave an apologetic bow with a comical sweat drop on his head. He stretched his hand and like a dag to his master's signals the bugs all scuttled across the water back to their owner. "Sorry everyone, I couldn't control my hive's enthusiasm."

"Meh, that's alright Shino." Kiba reassured him.

The land lady then led Shino towards the kiddy pool so he can solo the whole place with his bugs. This garnered a few laughs from Choji and Naruto though, thinking how _cute_ it must be to see Shino in the kiddy pool.

Sasuke in the meantime sat on his usual beach chair and leaned back, gazing the rim of his tropical styled umbrella. Somehow what Naruto just said gave a little pang of guilt in him. He admits that he has hurt her first and probably only girl friend in his entire life. He raised his hand above his face and realized that these hands just ran over her body. His palm still felt hot for some reason which Sasuke already deduced and tried not to admit it as much as possible even though he knew his subconscious was doing the separate thing. Falling in love. He closed his eyes and tried not to think more about it, but his very own imagination defied him. Scenes of day-to-day Sakura flashed before his eyes, when she's happy and smiling, when she's angry and pouting, the look she had when she's going on a comical rampage, when she's sad and crying, and many more.

Sasuke sat up from his supine position and vigorously shook his head. Just what _was_ he thinking about!? He saw everybody else back in the pool and playing in the now bug free pool. He gave a big sigh of relief when he didn't see that familiar cherry blossom anywhere, until…

_Splash_

He thought so too soon. Sakura just did a graceful dive that judges would surely score a 10 for. Sasuke was left stunned, her cream smooth skin and slender body streaming in water was seductively captivating for the young Uchiha. He managed to gulp down as he started to sweat with his heart pumping hard as he watched Sakura swim some more. He didn't meant to stare at her, but he did and soon Sakura somehow noticed him staring and she abruptly stopped. Bobbing up and down, with her back towards Sasuke made his senses return to him. Realizing what blasphemy to his own code of character just happened, he cleared his throat as he feigned justifying his actions by making it look like he was trying to find something on the horizon. Alternately, picking up some map and blankly read it and looked beyond again before he thought that it was probably getting too hot for his own good to stay under the sun any longer.

He gave the cool waters another shot as he plunged into it and gave a few meters of swim time before he hit his head on something hard. Taking a gasp for air and rubbing his head he took a peak with his left eye and saw that he had bumped into Sakura. She too was rubbing her head and gave Sasuke a sheepish laugh.

"I-I'm…"

"No, it's alright Sasuke-kun." She told him and bobbed herself to the edge.

Sasuke, for some unkown reason, followed her. "H-hey!" She heeded and turned to him with a quizzical look, who in turn stopped dead in his tracks. _"Damn she looks so cute__ GHA! What am I thinking!?" _He mentally shook his head while thinking of a way out of this. "Earlier, I hope I didn't cause you any troubles… with the bugs." He finished.

"No, no you didn't do anything wrong." She waved her hand, trying to dismiss the topic. Her face turning red now, she look down to the water and continued, "I should be thanking you. You helped me get rid of them."

"Err, right." He nodded.

Now that Sasuke looked more at ease, the tension between them began to soften as Sakura looked straight at him now and smiled. Sasuke on the other hand felt his face beginning to get hot all of a sudden. Even though Sakura didn't have a good figure, she still looked very attractive on that two-piece bikini wear. Sasuke only managed to nod at her again, lacking anything else good to say to her.

"Well, no problem then." He finally said, nodding towards her again.

Awkward silence enveloped the two as no words escaped their lips. Sasuke was highly reluctant to say or do anything, his mind still concentrating at Sakura's slender figure.

"So, enjoying the pool yet?" She finally asked.

"Yeah…" He gave another one liner. The Uchiha was already frustrated, wishing how good it would feel to just run away.

"Hey, have you tried their sundaes? Ino and Tenten just had some a while ago and they said that they were good. Wanna go get some?"

Sasuke, thinking that this might be a good change from this awkward nonsensical of a conversation, agreed and off they went towards the food stands. Kankuro and Gaara were there. Kankuro being the 'benevolent' brother that he is, overturned, checked, and double checked every single burger patty, mayo, ketchup, bun, cabbages, and pickle in their orders.

"Kankuro, I really do think that all this is unnecessary." Gaara soflty told him with his monotone.

"Yeah, yeah. But we really can't take any chances. The last time I went on a mission, my genin just drop down fainted after eating one of those burgers while we were on a mission near Earth Country (Will henceforth be mentioned as Iwa or Iwagakure)." He explained while looking up on his own bun this time.

Overhearing the conversation, Sakura and Sasuke, who was only following the Haruno, went over to their table and Sakura said, "Well that's because Iwa beef are too tangy for local Sand Shinobi." She explained.

Kankuro immediately stopped inspecting their burger with a distinct look of shame. Gaara was shaking his head due to disdain and merely sighed.

"I told you so Kankuro."

"Alright, alright. I won't bother with it anymore." He pouted slamming his bun together, making it spurt some of the sauce and staining his bare chest. "ARGH! DAMN IT!"

Sakura merely giggled and waved goodbye to the two. They were in front of the ice cream stand now and an old man with a bushy mustache greeted them holding out the selections. Sasuke peered to his sides from time to time to look at Sakura's face. She gave looks of amazement, groaning, and disappointment. He gave a smirk and looked around the counter and at the ice cream selection. The vendor there was eyeing the two as Sasuke has noticed and when he met with the vendor's gaze. He raised his eyebrows and motioned his head towards Sakura. Sasuke, in turn, looked straight towards Sakura and then back at the vendor and giving him a blank stare. The vendor, feeling Sasuke's animosity, raised his pinky finger and motioned his head once more at Sakura, who was still busy trying to select her ice cream. Sasuke, fazed at his actions, took a step back and shook his head. The vendor shrugged, seemingly defeated at their nonverbal argument still gave Sasuke weird looks and looked at Sakura.

This made Sasuke irritated now and slammed his menu down and shouted, "I'll take the mountain sundae!"

The plan seemed to work now since the ice cream man began to prepare his order and Sakura looked like she made her mind too, right after she gave Sasuke a startled look. Placing her own menu down, she gave out her order at the ice cream man as well.

After a few minutes of cold fumes and finger tapping later, ice cream was served. Sakura gave awes of amazement at the sheer height of the mountain sundae, indeed a mountain alright.

"Wow Sasuke, you could really finish all of that?"

Sasuke sweatdropped at the sight from his ice cream, _"how in the world can I finish something like this?__"_ Anyhow, the best thing here was the he managed to get away from that nosy ice cream vendor. Sakura began to walk slowly away, afraid to topple her own sundae bowl, Sasuke was about to pick up his own bowl when the ice cream vendor suddenly grabbed his arm and whispered, "Hey kid, better not let that beauty get away from ya?"

With one last wink, he let him go and Sasuke merely scowled at him, picking up his own bowl and dexterously walked normaly without letting a singly scoop from his one foot tall mountain. He sat down opposite from Sakura's seat who was already busy cleaning out the chips and walnuts decorated around the rim of her bowl. Sasuke mindlessly playing with his spoon, twirling it around and around until Sakura noticed that his ice cream was already melting.

"Sasuke, your ice cream." She pointed out. Sasuke snapped back to reality after grumbling something about 'stupid vendor'. Sakura merely giggled watching Sasuke busily scoop up all the dripping ice cream all around his melting mountain. "Here, let me help you." She told him, taking out a quarter of his mountain and placing it on top of her's.

Sasuke didn't mind this at all and even thanked silently that the amount that he'll be eating was reduced. Sasuke still had to contend with the melting bottom part of his mountain, but taking out most of it would topple his mountain down. So he systematically ate the bottom and going up in a 3:2 ratio. After a little while of struggling with his ice cream, he finally got it stabilized and ate steadily now.

Sakura on the other hand was already almost finished with her's. She eyed him every now and then where Sakura would immediately retreat to her bowl whenever Sasuke was looking at her as well. Sasuke sighed to himself how he couldn't get a grip of himself. He wondered just why he couldn't stop looking at her; even though he more or less has an idea.

"Hey, Sasuke." She called him. He was still busy trying to catch up on her eating as fast as he could on his bowl – he already had it down to a couple of inches down.

Without looking, he merely answered with a grunt.

"Ow why bother, let me." She told herself and she stood up and held out her hand. Sasuke was slightly fazed at what he was doing and froze. She continued to held out her hand and wiped it around his lips. "There, all better." She smiled at him and continued to finish the remainder of her bowl.

Sasuke just blinked at her. He held his left hand up his lips and thought how soft her touch could be before realizing that his spoonful of ice cream was already dripping. He quickly mouthed it down an tried to distract himself by looking around. Kankuro and Gaara already left and when he set his eyes towards the ice cream vendor, he saw him holding out a thumb's up hand sign. Sasuke responded with a crinkled brows before he went back to finish his bowl.

They finally finished and Sakura seemed energetic, probably from the sugar rush. She skipped a few steps ahead of him and when she reached the door, she turned around, a few drops of sweat sprinkled around her with the cool air dancing through her hair. Overall, giving her a jaw dropping look, Sasuke merely bowed his head to hide a smile that crept up on his face before walking on again.

"Wasn't that the greatest? I wish we had that good ice cream back home, don't you think so Sasuke?" She asked now walking aback towards the pool.

Sasuke merely replied with another grunt and Sakura merely smiled, seemingly content with his response.

"Hey, you know wha…" Her last few words trailed on before Sasuke noticed that she was feeling dozy and loosing balance.

He quickly reached out and grabbed her before she fell. Sakura rested her head, feeling like it was lead or something as she clutched it with her right hand and gripping Sasuke's shoulder with her left for support.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" He asked. His tone fluctuating since he was trying to hide the growing concern towards her.

"Oww my head. I think I got a brain freeze." She replied to which Sasuke merely chuckled. "What's wrong? I ordered their Frost Shavings. I never knew how cold it was from the rest." She replied back giving a weak pout.

"Sure, sure whatever." He replied playfully and took up Sakura on his back – much to her shock.

"S-Sasuke! What are you doing? Put me down!"

"You're in no condition to walk, let me carry you until I get you into one of the huts back at the pool."

Defeated, Sakura laid her head on the Uchiha's back and closed he eyes, trying to bear with the brain freeze. Sasuke soon found out that perhaps, carrying the afflicted Sakura on his back proved to be… embarrassing. People who spotted him carrying Sakura and placing her in one of the huts gave wolf howls and cheers.

"OI TEME! You should get a room and not a hut! We can all see you!" Naruto shouted. Hinata, who was just beside him suddenly blushed and covered her face from his remark which made Neji glare daggers at Naruto.

"Sakura! No fair!" Ino squealed, although more like the giddy self she is for seeing something potentially scandalous – again.

Sasuke's face began to sink with irritation as he glared back at them. He was about to get out of the hut when Sakura mumbled a 'thank you' at him. Sasuke looked back a little and went out to enjoy the rest of the day tormenting and torturing Naruto as payback.


End file.
